El D and Levon,

Ron brought me back with that period of exciting basketball, the 11 game streak that gave us national attention was truley great, the collapse that followed was disappointing.

But this is beyond Edgar-DAP- Nee ERA 's since we were at least good most of the time under RE, then to drop down to this bottom feeding status now with what improvement in sight.

Buckle up remaining fans, it will get uglier ..........

I was in person last night.  My assessment:

- The Dukes' first half shot selection was poor, choosing more difficult shots and/or missing bunnies.
- The Dukes' first half defense was average, but Davidson spread the court well, making space & match-ups, and making a balance of 3 pt shots & cuts to rim for layups.
- The Dukes second half shot selection was much better, going inside and out, getting open 3 pt looks, crashing boards, getting + 1, and making fouls shots from being fouled on aggressiveness to the basket.
- The Dukes second half defense seemed to force some bad Davidson shots and then add in the momentum of the run, Davidson got tight.
- Jack Gibbs is the real deal.  That kid can play.  Hustle, great shot, makes his own shot, creates for others, is a leader.  Very impressive and made me a bit jealous of having a 4year starter & Sr on the floor.  He really knew & ran the Davidson system.
- The Steph Curry halftime presentation for Student Section 30 probably took some of the wind out of Davidson.  They were amped up in the first half - fans & players.  It was a sellout and maybe we had 8-21 Duquesne fans in the place.  But we made ourselves known/heard during the 2nd half run.
- I stayed after in the stands and listened to the post game show via IHeart radio & my ear-buds.  Coach Ferry acknowledged the lack of effort, poise, poor shot selection on behalf of his players in the 1st 20 minutes.  And praised them for not giving up and playing hard/well in the 2nd half.  me seeing the game in person & taking into consideration the situation, I think Coach missed an oppty to slow down the game and call a time-out at 6 or 8 to 0.  That gym was amped and going down 22-5 was massive.
- That 2nd half run, I saw Mike (45), Sanders, Blackmon, & Smith play as good as a 4of 5 all season.  Great shots, good offensive sets, aggressive, ball hawking .... it was fun ... too bad we spotted them 23 in the 1st half.

Last edited by Box & One (1/25/2017 3:21 pm)

Interesting Discussion Today:  I spent some time today with a DU basketball player who played under Scott Edgar and then D. Porter.  He shall remain nameless but it was a great conversation and he put up with my questions.  Here is a synopsis:
-Edgar was a "different" type of coach with a different style.  His southern Arkansas experiences did not bode well here and he tried to recruit some kids from there but they got in trouble and were thrown off.
-He and the other players actually thought that D. Porter was not a bad coach.  He had absolutely no support from Duquesne but was actually hard-nosed but could relate to the players.  He said he was a smart basketball guy.
-Was surprised that RE was let go because he was the only coach who has had success in the last 10-15 years
-He also told me some stories about a few other coaches from WVU and Pitt that I will not go into.  Nothing illegal or that crazy but it wasn't positive.  Just thought I'd share.

Last edited by FAM (1/25/2017 5:15 pm)

Porter got paid $75K or some silly asterisked salary, had no support from Colleary, and his recruiting budget was bus fare as far as Keystone Oaks HS. That said, he was in over his head. He tried to bring in talented players who got in trouble elsewhere, and his reward for giving second chances was being screwed by those hay-ols. At least he tried something. He also taught. As one player told me, he sat guys in folding chairs to practice FTs, stuff like that. If Porter had succeeded Everhart instead of Edgar, he might have had a chance.

Ironduke81 wrote:

duq81 wrote:

FAM wrote:

Interesting Discussion Today:  I spent some time today with a DU basketball player who played under Scott Edgar and then D. Porter.  He shall remain nameless but it was a great conversation and he put up with my questions.  Here is a synopsis:
-Edgar was a "different" type of coach with a different style.  His southern Arkansas experiences did not bode well here and he tried to recruit some kids from there but they got in trouble and were thrown off.
-He and the other players actually thought that D. Porter was not a bad coach.  He had absolutely no support from Duquesne but was actually hard-nosed but could relate to the players.  He said he was a smart basketball guy.
-Was surprised that RE was let go because he was the only coach who has had success in the last 10-15 years
-He also told me some stories about a few other coaches from WVU and Pitt that I will not go into.  Nothing illegal or that crazy but it wasn't positive.  Just thought I'd share.

I always avoid criticizing Porter because he was thrown into an impossible situation. Worst staff ever. Some on this board ripped him for complaining about the lack of cell phones, but it really wasn't the cell phones. The cell phones just illuminated the total lack of support he was getting. When Nee came in, he got much more support than DAP did. Ron got a lot more than Nee did, and Ferry got a lot more than Ron did.

 Duq 81 you sir are a historian. Well done analysis. At this point the current President & AD can make sweeping changes or keep the dead wood. Based upon Duquesne history same old same. Fire the coach & bring in the next coach to enter the graveyard of coaches located on the bluff, Pgh Pa.

One other thing that has been constant, is that they have no clue as to what to look for in a coach. There are coaches out there who could win here despite all of our shortcomings. I know this because I actually see some of these schools win from time to time. It can't be about the hot low major coach, or picking a guy just because he's an assistant at some big school. It may be a guy who is only having modest success, because he's coaching at a very difficult place to win. Coach K had modest success at Army, but the people in charge at Duke were able understand that no coach was going to have sparkling records at Army, and they identified a rising star. I can assure you that there are some coaches grinding at the lower levels of college basketball who could come here and fix this. Hopefully Harper is a guy who has the ability to go out and find one of them. It can't just be about some guy who's won a lot at his current school; it needs to be someone who is a good fit for the situation here. Harper should be beating the bushes already. Don't be afraid to look at D2 either.

scduke wrote:

81, now I'm depressed on top of being confused. I was already confused because loyal readers of this website are told that our lack of success is attributed to a faulty coach, faulty players, inadequate facilities, and incompetent and/or uninterested administrators. (Did I leave anything out?)  But now you say DU has provided quantum leaps of support to each coach since Darelle Porter, but we still don't win. Now I wish I knew what exactly we needed to do, but I have been told I do have some common sense. So what this means to me is that either the help is insufficient (e. g., not spending enough) or isn't useful enough (e. g., money spent unwisely). God help anybody trying to raise athletic funds without a bold, ingenious plan.

Everything is always a step late. Palumbo would have been fantastic in 1960. By 1988, not so much. If they had offered to pay in 1978, what they paid a decade later, they would have had coaches knocking down their door. A day late, and a dollar short.  Part of the problem going back, is that they won big for a long time while operating on a shoestring. They put so little into the program, that their three greatest coaches, all alums, walked away in their 40s. Because of this, it was hard to convince the powers that be that it was necessary to invest in the program. With all that said, there are guys out there who can win here, despite the shortcomings. Does Harper have the ability to find one of them. It's like the difference between trading for an established major leaguer, and trading for a prospect. The major leaguer is easy, as he has a track record at the highest level. You need good scouts to be successful when trading for prospects, because they're unproven at the top level. The prospect may never make it, or he might become a star. Harper is our scout. Can he dig out the future star, or will he fail, or worse, settle for some retread? The retread route sure doesn't seem to be working for Pitt.
 

Interesting to watch the mess at UMass - now tied with the Dukes and Saint Louis for last place in conference. Derek Kellogg's contract runs for 2 more years (same as Ferry) at an annual base salary, before incentives, of $994,500.

Being a state school, Kellogg's contract is public record and he is the highest paid state employee in Massachusetts. How are they going to convince the taxpayers to eat the final two years of that contract?

Thad Matta might be available at the end of the year.

Just saying. Don't know that he'd be the answer, but compared to Ferry, Toucan Sam, Jack Bauer, and the Easter Bunny seem more appealing.

Perhaps deep pocket Pitt boosters will buy out both Kevin Stallings' and Jim Ferry's contracts then donate enough to the Duquesne Athletic Fund to bring Stallings to the Bluff.

They could build a 10,000 seat arena.  With this coach and rebuilding process, they will still play before 150 fans.  At least there would be a choice in seating...

Would be most interested in seeing something concrete as to the plans for  Polumbo renovation and agree that it will take more than that to right the ship.

I am trying to be logical here...please have patience.  It's pretty much agreed that this will "probably" be the 5th year in a row without a winning season.  Also, I think it was El Duque (correct me if I am wrong or provide alternative facts here) who pointed out that Ferry has had 3  Winning seasons in 15 years?

Either way, the program is worse now than when he was hired.  I also believe Palumbo can be updated to a nice facility.  Here is my question. (No, I don't know the answer).  I presume Duquesne will ask for $$ from boosters, etc. to go toward construction.  Can it ask these same folks for money to pay for this coaches contract (buy out)  to hire someone who can win?  Or is that illegal?  As many of you have said, updating the facility will do nothing if you don't have a coach who can recruit and coach.  Also, the attendance next year, will only get worse.  I mean this year they have had to offer seats for $10.00 and still can't get anyone to go because it is a losing program.  Thanks, FAM

I suggest that if you get a request for $$ for this facility that the response be:  When you get a good coach.

Last edited by FAM (1/26/2017 2:42 pm)